Toy electric railway



May 30, 1933. L. w. ROSENTHAL TOY ELECTRIC RAILWAY Filed Jan. 29, 1951 INVENTO R Patented May 30, 1933 UNITED STATES LEON W. ROSENTHAL, OF NEW YORK, N'. Y.

TOY ELECTRIC RAILWAY Application filed January 29, 1931.

This invention relates to toy electric railways, and more particularly to improvements in the apparatus described and claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 199,878, filed December 1, 1930.

One of the improvements consists in providing a reversible unit, namely, one upon the obverse and reverse faces of the panels of which are mounted divisions of a track interconnectible, either of them, with the divisions of complementary units, whether the divisions of said unit are the same or different in conformation.

Another object is to provide connector 1 strips on the units whereby electrical connec tions may be readily made between the power elements of one unit and those of another or others, and for otherwise facilitating the wiring of the track layout.

Preferably the unit or units provided with divisions of track on the obverse and reverse faces are the ones intermediate and other than the end units bearing the track switching mechanism and power controlling devices. And the connector strips aforementioned may be attached to any or all the units, as will appear later.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an electric railway according to my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the reverse face of the center unit; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, of Fig. 2; Fig. 1 is a section on the line i of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a plan '7 view of a set up employing four units.

Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown substantially the same set-up as that shown in Fig. 1 of my said copending application. The same comprises three complementary units 1, 2 and 3. Each unit comprises a base portion or panel 1 mounted on stringers 5, 5; and on each panel is mounted a division 7 of a track layout 6, made up of track sections 8, 8 joined to each other in the usual ;manner. Each division is secured more or Serial N0. 511,997.

less permanently to its associated panel. Track sections of one division which are arranged to be joined to the track sections of a complementary division preferably project in part beyond their respective panels so as to facilitate the jointure of said sec tions. This jointure provides one means for connecting the units to each other, and another means for doing so is provided by the stringers of complementary units which also project beyond their respective panels or units and are arranged to be coupled or otherwise connected to each other by the dowel pins 9, 9.

The intermediate unit 2 has a division of a track layout on each of its faces, and either of said divisions is interconnectible with the divisions of the adjacent units. Guards or stringers 5, 5 are mounted on said unit top and bottom as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Secured to the panels of each of the units are connector strips 10, 10, which may be like those disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 511,996 filed January 29, 1931. Figs. 1 and 2 show connections between the power rails of the respective divisions and track sections and the connector strips. From the same connector strip connections may be made to the corresponding power rails of both the upper and lower divisions by running branch conductors 10m and 10?) from the connector strip to said rails, one of said branch conductors 10?) being passed through an opening in the panel and connected to the power rails on the other side in the usual manner, or separate conductors may be run from said strips to the power rails above and below the panel.

In Fig. 1 there is shown as mounted on panel 1 a transformer 11 which is connected by conductor 11a to an electrical switch 12 for controlling the current to the power rails of the various divisions and for the track switches 13. The electrical switch may be of any suitable type and the track switches 18 may consist of a pivoted plate with short lengths of rail on the upper surface to connect the track divisions as desired. Any suitable means for electrically or mechanically operating these track switches may be employed and the electrical switch and the track switches may be in terconnected to operate in unison. These features need not be further described since they are not a part of the invention herein, the latter relating essentially to the relationship between the several unit-s and such other details as above set forth.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A toy electric railway mounted on a base comprising a plurality of detachably connectible units each comprising a panel having a division of the track layout mounted thereon and at least one of said units having a division on each of its faces.

2. A toy electric railway mounted on a base comprising a plurality of detachably connectible units each comprising a panel having a division of the track layout mounted thereon, and at least one of said units having a division also on its reverse face differing in configuration from that on its obverse face.

3. A toy electric railway unit comprising a panel having a division of a track layout mounted on each of its faces.

4. A toy electric railway unit comprising a panel having a division of a track layout mounted on each of its faces, said divisions differing from each other in configuration.

5. A toy electric railway unit comprising a panel, a division of a track mounted on each face thereof, each division having one or more power elements, a connector strip secured to said panel, a conductor connecting side strip and the power elements of one division, and another conductor connected to said strip and passing through an opening in said panel and connected to the power elements on the opposite face of said panel.

6. A toy electric railway unit comprising a non-conducting panel, tracks on both faces of the panel, a conducting strip secured to said panel, electrical connections leading from said strip over one face of the panel, and electrical connections passing through the panel from said strip and over the op posite face thereof, said connections being united to the tracks on both faces of the panel.

7. A toy electric railway unit comprising a panel havin a track mounted on each face thereof, a terminal secured to one face there of, and a conductor connected to said terminal, passing through said panel and connected to the track on the other face of the panel.

LEON W. ROSENTHAL. 

